The late Stu wrote:

Gerontius Took wrote:

The late Stu wrote:

Gerontius Took wrote:

It’s aimed right at me. Folio too expensive for me, it’s a nice looking set, hopefully well made. To have Alan’s signature, my favourite Tolkien artist, inside my favourite book is something I’d love to have.

It is barely cheaper than the Folio retailed at.

It is if you have a limited budget

I mean, you could say that about any price difference at all. The fact remains that £750 and £1000 are very much in the same ball-park price-wise for a very, very different product. If one can't afford £1000, then £750 is probably also an unwise purchase, because stretching oneself for a deluxe edition of a book is nuts.

I didn’t say I was stretching, I said I have a limited budget. Also my wife disagrees with you re the difference between spending 750 or 1000 on a book. One is slightly more acceptable ;) happy wife, happy life :)

I hear you :D But I also feel the price tag is pretty steep. By all indications this is going to be essentially the same format as the various Deluxe editions we've had since around 2020 + a fancy box + the signature. By comparison the Folio edition had a much larger format and seemed to be on a much higher level of quality throughout and didn't have any loose sheets or maps (instead in dedicated folders). I was really interested in this release but the price tag and what's on offer doesn't feel right to me.

The late Stu wrote:

Gerontius Took wrote:

The late Stu wrote:

Gerontius Took wrote:

It’s aimed right at me. Folio too expensive for me, it’s a nice looking set, hopefully well made. To have Alan’s signature, my favourite Tolkien artist, inside my favourite book is something I’d love to have.

It is barely cheaper than the Folio retailed at.

It is if you have a limited budget

I mean, you could say that about any price difference at all. The fact remains that £750 and £1000 are very much in the same ball-park price-wise for a very, very different product. If one can't afford £1000, then £750 is probably also an unwise purchase, because stretching oneself for a deluxe edition of a book is nuts.

The Folio was generally considered to be overpriced at the time, but compared to this new edition, it looks like an absolute steal. As someone who does have the Folio and also has the 70th anniversary deluxe to compare side-by-side, these two products are not even in the same class, and I can't really see how the latter could be turned into something that is without major changes that aren't being made as part of this new product.

People will buy this - and good luck to them. I hope they enjoy it. For me, this is just a cynical release at a cynical price point. But HarperCollins is a business -- their job is to sell books. I can't really fault them for it, but I can lament that they are taking this path vs producing something more in line with my own interests and values.

Which is why the 70th Anniversary was great for me. It's a nice looking new set, but not $1k. I like it. I like the exterior better than the strangely colored Folio. It's my "modern collectible". Anything more expensive would have to be an older 1st edition set (2nd edition Hobbit) than my current 1959 set.

If the 70th Anniversary box set had actually quality leather on the bindings, it would probably be my favorite LOTR set.

Leather is not mentioned in the official product description so I’m not sure why some think that it would have it

Eye_of_the_Black_Tower wrote:

Leather is not mentioned in the official product description so I’m not sure why some think that it would have it

Not true.

From the 2024 70th Boxset publisher description:

This new hardback set of this beautifully illustrated work has been bound in cloth and leather and features brand-new cover designs by the artist

It doesn’t say that in product pages such as Blackwell’s:
https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/prod ... 669430?a_aid=tolkienguide

Eye_of_the_Black_Tower wrote:

It doesn’t say that in product pages such as Blackwell’s:
https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/prod ... 669430?a_aid=tolkienguide

Last time I checked, Blackwells isn’t the publisher…they are just a retailer who can put whatever on their website. We can debate the quality of the leather or how much of it is there or grain, etc…we can’t just make up whatever we want without doing any research, however.

Eye_of_the_Black_Tower wrote:

Leather is not mentioned in the official product description so I’m not sure why some think that it would have it

It did early on, but regardless, my point is I wish the books had a quality leather binding, which they do not.